Fourth-quarter run lifts Jay

The Patriots had to labor through the Braves’ zone defense to get to the basket during the third quarter.

The extra effort on offense led to lapses on defense, allowing their double-digit lead to shrink to one possession with eight minutes left.

As the fourth quarter began, the Patriots cut the tempo to force the Braves into ditching the zone.

The defense stretched, lanes opened, the drive the hoop got easier and the home team began to pull away again.

Jay County High School’s boys basketball team used an 8-0 run in the fourth quarter to close the regular season with a 50-39 victory over the Bellmont Braves.

“They came out (to defend), which gave us some driving angles to get to the basket, and we did a pretty good job of finishing around the basket,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team snapped a four-game losing streak as it gets ready to begin sectional play Tuesday against Muncie Central at Fort Wayne Wayne. The Patriots (13-9) beat the Bearcats (8-14) on Dec. 30 in overtime, 54-47.

“We missed a couple layups back-to-back, but they didn’t make us pay for it,” Krieg said.

Bellmont coach John Baker said he told his team, which had cut a 10-point deficit in the second quarter to 32-29 after three periods, he didn’t want to trade baskets in the fourth quarter. It was how the first two possessions played out to start the final period as the Braves (4-18) trailed 34-31 with nearly two minutes gone.

But Bellmont turnovers on five of the next eight possessions helped the Patriots pull away.

“Credit to them, they were the ones that really shut us down,” Baker said. “Any point we got we really had to fight tooth and nail to earn. That is what Jay County basketball has been about the last several years.”

Jason Schlosser, who had a team-high 11 points for the Patriots, started the 8-0 run with a fast-break bucket on an assist from Holton Hill. Wyatt Geesaman followed with a pair of free throws and a layup off a helper from Hill to make it 43-31.

After Bellmont was whistled for traveling on its next possession, Jay County nearly gave the ball right back to the visitors. As an errant pass was headed out of bounds near the Patriot bench, Geesaman grabbed it and dished a no-look, backward pass to Schlosser, who was streaking near the free-throw line. He caught it in stride and bounced a pass to Ryan Schlechty for the easy lay-in and a 45-33 JCHS advantage.

It was the fifth and final assist for Schlosser.

“Offensive-wise I thought he did a nice job of not forcing things, letting things just come to him,” said Krieg, who also praised Geesaman’s eight points. “He is going to do a lot of good things for you and I thought he did a really good job of finishing around the basket. More so than what he’s done this year so far.

“I’m proud of Wyatt, he did a good job.”

Cole Stigleman was second on the team with 11 points, while Max Moser, Jay Houck and Schlechty had six points apiece.

Bellmont’s Jordan Fuelling scored eight of his game-high 13 points in the fourth quarter, and Austin O’Campo added 10 points for the Braves.



Junior varsity

Matthew Franks notched half of his dozen points in overtime, lifting Jay County to a 59-54 victory over Bellmont.

Franks sank the go-ahead field goal and made four free throws in the extra period for the Patriots (14-6), who were a flawless 3-0 in overtime games this season.

Jay County led 25-19 at halftime, but saw the lead shrink to 40-37 heading into the fourth quarter. The Braves outscored the Patriots 15-12 in the fourth to send the game into overtime, where Franks came up big.

Parker Grimes led the Patriots with 14 points, and Xavier Ninde matched Franks with 12 points. Jordan Stultz scored eight points and Noah Arbuckle tallied six.



Freshman

Gabe Link scored all of his game-high 17 points in the first half as the Patriots closed out their season with a 44-33 victory.

Jay County (7-12) led 11-3 after the first period and pushed the advantage to 21-11 at halftime. Bellmont cut into the deficit with a 14-point effort during the third quarter to make it 30-25 heading into the final frame, during which the home team was able to keep its double-digit margin.

Brayden Sprunger was second on the team with 10 points, as Brian Williams chipped in seven points and Payton Nichols had five points